Doctor won’t prescribe thrush treatment

[Loserlacey]

As above.
i get it quite often when compared to others. I’ve got it to a point whereby I can control it. However I have got it again.
doctor won’t prescribe it. I must have been about 10 months ago since I was last prescribed.
i Pre pay for my medications and I earn £24k a year.

OP, try taking a probiotic. I am diabetic and certain meds gave me recurring thrush. These have solved the issue.
But I dont ask GP for thrush treatment. I buy it on Amazon.

I want to know how you got an appointment in the first place for thrush?

What about things that say on them to only use for a certain amount of time?
For example omeprazole etc.
I've not gone back to the gp with acid reflux as I can buy medication in asda, but surely once I've done my "14 days" I should get a gp appointment to look it over and maybe prescribe a longer course?
I can get contraception and decent painkillers online, some of these used to be controlled and monitored by GPs.
Are they suddenly safe now?

I sympathise OP. I have the pessary in repeat prescription as I get thrush so often. I even had a three month course of the tablets once that didn't work.

The cheapest place for the tablet used to be asda at £5 but they stopped stocking them. I think you can buy online.

Why do you want to see your GP about this?
Fair enough if you are concerned - perhaps a diabetes check is needed?
But if it's just to get value for money from your pre-payment plan, that's unreasonable. The expectation is that you buy this kind of thing yourself.

The NHS also has to pay for the Healthcare Professional's Time and the administration of the prescription. Whilst not seeing someone else.

Btw you can’t buy it over the counter if you’re over 60, only found this out this year

Can see OP’s point though. She has a prepayment certificate which should cover all her medicines for the year. She’s now being told to buy OTC at additional cost. Even if it’s only a few quid, you notice it when money is tight.

You need to see a gp to confirm that it's thrush. Especially if it is recurring. You may have something that needs different treatment.

But it's the same as getting any medication that's not available on prescription.

Should she be allowed to waste GP's appointments on paracetamol or aspirin because she pre-pays for her prescriptions?

The point of the pre-payment certificate is to make your prescriptions affordable. This isn't something that requires a prescription. It's the same if you're very old or very young or on certain benefits.

That's not the point of the pre-payment certificate. It doesn't give you access to over the counter meds for free. People are still expected to buy their own paracetamol, antiseptic cream, antifungal cream, plasters etc

You don't need to see a GP to confirm it's thrush unless it's something which is reoccurring or isn't going away with OTC medicine.

The cost of a GP appt to the NHS is £30 then potentially £20 cost of the prescription you've cost the nhs £50 for a £5 medicine you can get easily at any chemist. Even my student dd buys her own thrush medicine and she also has a pre payment certificate so technically could get it free. But she wouldn't dream of wasting the doctors time.

I had this issue , and also for another item (glucose tablets)

I had to complain to the practice manager twice and go in for an apt with her and gp and they finally agreed I could have thrush treatment and glucose on my repeat list

well done.

It was probably cheaper than spending hundreds of pounds of people's time on your complaints.

The sooner we charge for the NHS at point of delivery the better

I don't see the problem here. My daughter earns less than £24K and is quite happy to go to the pharmacist and buy whatever she needs there. It's quicker than trying to get a doctor appt, far less hassle when she's trying to work full time, and often cheaper than a prescription.

Thats ridiculous IMO, The NHS is on its knees and you are demanding fanny cream and a some lucozade pills from the practice manager?

You can buy both of those freely anywhere.

I think this is because of the possibility of it being diabetes related but I get thrush very infrequently so I must admit last time I wanted to buy the treatment OTC I lied and said it was for my daughter.

Why should I suffer when I can have a prescription? Would you rather people went without food because that was my choice ?? Some people don’t have a spare £10-15 for thrush treatment or even £2-3 for glucose

You can’t buy them if there’s nothing in your account - maybe some people don’t realise that others have days and days with nothing in their accounts - that you have to top up the electric and feed children then if there’s nothing left what can you do ?

I’m just glad my gp surgery had sone compassion about it once I explained the situation

Or pregnant.

Last year I had several bouts of pregnancy related thrush, the NHS website said the cream an pessaries are fine in pregnancy. The pharmacist refused to sell it to me without a prescription and I couldn't get an appointment, I was in tears with the agony and frustration.

Then when I finally got the prescription she loudly questioned why I wasn't paying for it.

Sorry lovie, you have to take some responsibility for curing yourself. The NHS including GP services are overloaded and short of money.
It's all in the news!

What about compassion for the person who doesn't get seen, because the request for thrush treatment on prescription took up the last appointment slot of the day?

You didnt explain the situation, you formally complained twice. Maybe you need to budget for those things, I dont mean to sound harsh and I have been the skintest of skint in my time BUT the nhs is not there for this sort of stuff.

It will be costing them a lot more than a £3 cream and a packet of sweets you complaining and blocking appointments up with this nonsense.

It’s not my fault if that happened I can’t be held accountable for the lack of available appointments. I needed treatment on prescription and had tried via other ways but was asked to go in so I did - I have a condition where I get regular thrush and therefore they saw that it was necessary to add the items to my repeat as I get prescriptions for free due to long term conditions (diabetes)